(Reuters) - Consumers continued to pay down debt in the third quarter of 2012, but slow job growth and the expiration of a tax cut could mean it will become more difficult to repay loans, the American Bankers Association said on Thursday. Delinquencies on bank card payments fell to an 18-year low during the quarter, and a composite ratio covering late payments in eight loan categories also fell, the group said. But delinquencies rose in five of those eight categories, the ABA said.

* American Bankers Association to form nonprofit * Could intensify opposition to Dodd-Frank * Decisions pending which Senate, House races ABA will engage By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A major banking industry trade group is planning a foray into the U.S. elections by creating a tax-exempt organization capable of raising unlimited anonymous funds, the groups' chief operating officer said Wednesday. The board of directors at the American Bankers Association, which represents about 5,000 U.S. banks, will vote on Thursday whether to launch a nonprofit advocacy group, which would join the scores of tax-exempts already pouring millions into the 2012 election without having to disclose donors.

BEIJING (Reuters) - As many as five Tibetans set themselves ablaze in China in the past week to protest Chinese rule over Tibet, a U.S. broadcaster said, a surge highlighted by a rights group as a sustained campaign against Beijing's grip on religious freedom. Two self-immolations on Monday in the Aba prefecture, a mountainous and mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province, were followed by at least one clash between police and ethnic Tibetans that left one protester dead, Radio Free Asia said.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. taxpayers who are victims of identity theft should be allowed to see fraudulent tax returns attributed to them, tax attorneys told Congress in a proposal. A wave of identity theft has led to tax fraud in Tampa, Florida, and Puerto Rico, among other places, shining a new light on the issue. Victims and local law enforcement are frustrated by tight restrictions on access to federal tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

Concerns over the financial affairs at DePaul University's law school -- first raised by the law-school dean who was later fired -- will not affect its status as an accredited institution. The university released a report Monday from the American Bar Association, the accreditation agency for law schools, that concluded the central administration provides sufficient funds to the law school. The funding of the law school became controversial in June when the school's dean, Glen Weissenberger, complained to the ABA that the university had breached a 2004 agreement that guaranteed the college of law 75 percent of the "net tuition" in any given year.

Late payments on consumer loans in last year's third quarter hit the highest level since record-keeping began in 1980, the American Bankers Association said. The association said delinquencies rose to a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent from 2.68 percent in the second quarter. The number reflects the percentage of accounts across eight categories of consumer loans with payments overdue 30 days or longer. The record was 2.88 percent, in the third quarter of 1989, ABA spokeswoman Carol Kaplan said.